Kevin Rudd outlines Labor's big picture

Kevin Rudd will try to seal a deal on school funding within two weeks and says Tony Abbott's plan to turn back asylum seeker boats risks conflict with Indonesia.

At his first media conference since returning to the prime ministership, Mr Rudd pledged to sit down with the leaders of Queensland, the NT, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania to finalise a school funding deal outside the previous June 30 deadline.

He said his new frontbench would be sworn in on Monday, but was still being finalised.

There will be no major policy announcements until after the first cabinet sitting.

It is understood the government is considering changes to the carbon tax, as well as scrapping a decision to move single parents onto the lower Newstart payment.

Mr Rudd, a former diplomat and foreign minister, took aim at the coalition's "turn back the boats" policy, saying it risked diplomatic conflict, and worse, because Indonesia did not agree with it.

"Konfrontasi (the 1963-66 war between Indonesia and Malaysia in which seven Australian military died) in Indonesia evolved over a set of words and turned into something else," Mr Rudd said.